PMC PB1i Signature vs PMC Fact 8

[Gazzip]

Hi Electro,

I am now the proud and happy owner of..... PMC PB1i Sigs. I didn't bother trying the Fact 8's in the end due to being totally smitten with the PB1's. I stand by my previous comments re. badly recorded music being smashed to bits by them but that is the bane of good HiFi IMHO. No doubt others will disagree but some music just isn't designed to be played on revealing equipment and I am prepared to live with that.

Best,

gazziP

 

[Electro]

Hi Electro,

I am now the proud and happy owner of..... PMC PB1i Sigs. I didn't bother trying the Fact 8's in the end due to being totally smitten with the PB1's. I stand by my previous comments re. badly recorded music being smashed to bits by them but that is the bane of good HiFi IMHO. No doubt others will disagree but some music just isn't designed to be played on revealing equipment and I am prepared to live with that.

Best,

gazziP

Well done :cheers: :cheer: :rockout:

Exactly the same happened to me when I heard my PB1i's , I just knew immediately that there was no point listening to any more speakers they are a truly astonishingly good speaker and the affordable jewel of the i series range .

They reproduce music like it is a real musical event which is very rare at any price !

 

[wtaylorbasil]

Electro Post#5,

The youtube you provided, at what resolution is the audio playing back? I'd be interested to know. Does it reflect the speaker fidelity?

regards

 

[Electro]

Electro Post#5,

The youtube you provided, at what resolution is the audio playing back? I'd be interested to know. Does it reflect the speaker fidelity?

regards

I have no idea what the resolution is , it is just a video I found on youtube .

The sound quality from the youtube video would not come even close to the real thing and is not an accurate representation of how the speakers sound but only how they look .

 

[SteveR750]

Hi Electro,

I am now the proud and happy owner of..... PMC PB1i Sigs. I didn't bother trying the Fact 8's in the end due to being totally smitten with the PB1's. I stand by my previous comments re. badly recorded music being smashed to bits by them but that is the bane of good HiFi IMHO. No doubt others will disagree but some music just isn't designed to be played on revealing equipment and I am prepared to live with that.

Best,

gazziP

Hi Gazzip, from your sig you didn't keep the PB1i? What was the reason for the change?

 

[Electro]

Hi Gazzip, from your sig you didn't keep the PB1i? What was the reason for the change?

I would guess it was the lure of a pair of these *shok* . They are absolutely huuuuuuge in the flesh !

Oh my, I think I need a lie down *man_in_love*

 

[Helmut80]

It's strange, I'm usually not one to like the big undustrial, or plain ugly hifi gear. But the big P.MCs look awe-inspiring.

 

[Gazzip]

It's strange, I'm usually not one to like the big undustrial, or plain ugly hifi gear. But the big P.MCs look awe-inspiring.

They are indeed an awesome speaker but alas they are just a bit too bg for my listening room. I am in the process of downsizing my speakers to PMC's FACT 12's and will definitely miss these big guns!

 

[Electro]

It's strange, I'm usually not one to like the big undustrial, or plain ugly hifi gear. But the big P.MCs look awe-inspiring.

They are indeed an awesome speaker but alas they are just a bit too bg for my listening room. I am in the process of downsizing my speakers to PMC's FACT 12's and will definitely miss these big guns!

I'm surprised that you are not going to try the MB2se or even the IB2se , the Fact 12's are lovely but they may have a very different sound balance especially the bass .

 

[CnoEvil]

I recommend you hear the Kef Reference 5 and Blade 2 before changing.

 

[Gazzip]

I recommend you hear the Kef Reference 5 and Blade 2 before changing.

I had a demo of both the Fact 12 and the Blade 2 at the weekend. The Blade 2 had a very poor low end IMHO when compared against the Fact 12's transmission line design. Quite bloomy and fat I thought. I have had both the IB2's and the MB2's in my room in addition to the BB5's and to be honest I feel that they all have a flaw in the frequency range between upper lows and lower mids. They seem to roll off in to each other which can lead to bloating in that range. Not a lot but once you notice it.....

 

[CnoEvil]

I recommend you hear the Kef Reference 5 and Blade 2 before changing.

I had a demo of both the Fact 12 and the Blade 2 at the weekend. The Blade 2 had a very poor low end IMHO when compared against the Fact 12's transmission line design. Quite bloomy and fat I thought. I have had both the IB2's and the MB2's in my room in addition to the BB5's and to be honest I feel that they all have a flaw in the frequency range between upper lows and lower mids. They seem to roll off in to each other which can lead to bloating in that range. Not a lot but once you notice it.....

That is very interesting.

I have heard the Blade 1 which I loved, but I haven't heard the Blade 2 (or the Fact 12)....it seems you have wisely done your homework.

Good job.

 

[Gazzip]

I had the MB2SE's on hand for my demo on Saturday and started with them as a point of familiar reference to begin the audition. One thing the Fact 12's don't have which the MB's and BB's do is a really, really subtle, easy and almost syrupy bottom end. That I will miss. The Fact 12 goes very low but there is a marked difference between the Fact and the SE Series in that department. The dedicated doped, domed midrange driver, a newly developed 50mm in the Facts, and the Classic 75mm in the IB, MB and BB ranges, are completely indistinguishable to me with both sounding amazing. Top end also sounded the same across all ranges although I believe the 12's tweeter to be a new design also.

Where the Fact 12's win hands down is in the pace of their attack. Sometimes they sound almost like small standmounts with a sub they are so agile. The 12's are also drop dead gorgeous lookers with impeccable build quality and finish.

All said and done if I had a large enough room then I would probably keep the BB5SE's and work on the roll off overlap issue by fiddling with cables, amps and sources until the balance was right to get rid of it. Switching my source from Chord Electronics to Audio Research helped in this department but not quite enough. At the end of the day I live in a small house, not a recording studio or a mansion, so it is out with the brutes and in with what I hope will be some refinement.....

 

[CnoEvil]

Thank you for the insight....it makes a pleasant change from the "everything sounds the same except for speakers" threads.

 

[Gazzip]

That is very interesting.

I have heard the Blade 1 which I loved, but I haven't heard the Blade 2 (or the Fact 12)....it seems you have wisely done your homework.

Good job.

Did you find the Blade 1's were super fussy about room placement? The 2's which I assume to be the same basic design as the 1's have a quad of bass drivers (two facing right and two facing left) as well as rear bass porting. I would have thought them an utter nightmare to set up within the confines of a normal room?

 

[CnoEvil]

That is very interesting.

I have heard the Blade 1 which I loved, but I haven't heard the Blade 2 (or the Fact 12)....it seems you have wisely done your homework.

Good job.

Did you find the Blade 1's were super fussy about room placement? The 2's which I assume to be the same basic design as the 1's have a quad of bass drivers (two facing right and two facing left) as well as rear bass porting. I would have thought them an utter nightmare to set up within the confines of a normal room?

I heard them when they were already set up by the dealer in a pretty large room....and I didn't ask. I thought the bass was remarkably good (huge scale and impact, while remaining tight and punchy). Source was a Linn Klimax DS and they were bi-amped with more Linn (Akurate IIRC)

 

[SteveR750]

Aha! Completely understandable. The big PMCs look great in the way an aircraft carrier does.

On the PMC front, I was thinking of demoing Fact 8s but on the basis they are not a LOUD loudspeaker I haven't bothered hunting them out yet.

Other than SCM40, and PB1i, I am somehow pulled towards also listening to some Reference 3. These would be interesting to compaer to the ATCs

 

[Gazzip]

It could well be that I am so tuned in to transmission line speakers (years of PMC) that I just found the Blade's bass too different from my reference to appreciate it.

 

[CnoEvil]

It could well be that I am so tuned in to transmission line speakers (years of PMC) that I just found the Blade's bass too different from my reference to appreciate it.

Great bass is great bass....but there are so many factors at play (including preference), that it not always easy to get a good result.

Did the dealer have any comment?

 

[Gazzip]

It could well be that I am so tuned in to transmission line speakers (years of PMC) that I just found the Blade's bass too different from my reference to appreciate it.

Great bass is great bass....but there are so many factors at play (including preference), that it not always easy to get a good result.

Did the dealer have any comment?

He would have liked them to have a little more run-in and he also suggested that they are quite room sensitive. I am generally a big fan of Kef speakers (LS50's aside) so I was a little surprised. However apart from the bass issue which may be personal preference they were frickin awesome.